My remote is very old. My neighbor's is very new with a rolling code. Once or twice a year he lands on my code and my garage door opens.

 

My garage opener's remote has been dropped many, many times throughout its long history ... and every time that's happened it split into three pieces: the pcb, and its two plastic lids...

Well, it seems that I've dropped the darned thing for its last and final time ... when I put it back together, it stopped working and now the garage door won't open anymore unless I manually press one of the buttons at the motor's unit. Even when the tiny LED light blinks when the proper button is pressed, the motor does not detect the signal and fails to open

View attachment 269309

I've closely inspected the circuit and there seem to be no dry contacts nor broken traces in it. What's more, I heated my soldering iron and pressed it against every pin in every component to make sure that effective contact is being made in every node.

Question, is it possible that the device's crystal was damaged somehow by the impact? Because that's the only possibility that I can think of for it to have stopped working the way it did.

NOTE: The other side of the board contains only its cr2032 battery, which is brand new btw.

Hey there,

How much is a brandy new remote?
I ask because there could be other parts or connections about to go too if it has been dropped that many times. A new one would give you a brand new start.

If you drop something that many times then it's time to think about a prevention. I would have to recommend a lanyard you can connect to belt or key chain or dashboard or something like that. No sense in ruining another one.
I use lanyards for several things i use a lot including small and large flashlights. They allow me to be able to hang them up too. Because i need so many, i usually make my own too out of some heavy cord that looks nice too. The 'paracord' is very strong and you can get it in various thicknesses like 1/8 inch diameter (extremely strong for the thickness) and 1/4 inch diameter and 3/8 inch diameter. Not too expensive either and you can make 200 lanyards with one spool.

If the device does not have a hole to run a lanyard through, there are some tricks you can use. In one case, i used a special kind of super strong thread to run through the battery compartment, then a regular lanyard tied to that. You can also drill a tiny tiny hole and run the thread or perhaps a thinner lanyard through the hole.

Alternately, glue it to your forehead

 

Good Job on fixing the remote by changing the crystal. And a salute for knowing how to do it!
Replacing a remote often requires replacing the receiver as well, which is suddenly a lot more expensive, and always involves a lot more effort. Given the rate of change of the designs , functionalities, and schemes, if the exact replacement is not available the combination change is rather mandatory.
And for protection against additional damage, probably a protective case arrangement like is available for cell phones is in order.

 

Good Job on fixing the remote by changing the crystal. And a salute for knowing how to do it!
Replacing a remote often requires replacing the receiver as well, which is suddenly a lot more expensive, and always involves a lot more effort. Given the rate of change of the designs , functionalities, and schemes, if the exact replacement is not available the combination change is rather mandatory.
And for protection against additional damage, probably a protective case arrangement like is available for cell phones is in order.

I did look for a replacement before embarking on this little venture. But the system is obsolete, and I couldn't find it anywhere. Not even with specialized businesses who told me that the best thing to do would be to replace the entire system with a more modern one. And they’re probably right. But not just now because I have a limited budget for maintenance this year. Maybe next year I will replace it.

In the meantime, I'm just glad I don't have to manually open and close the damn thing twice every time I leave the house.

 

I did look for a replacement before embarking on this little venture. But the system is obsolete, and I couldn't find it anywhere. Not even with specialized businesses who told me that the best thing to do would be to replace the entire system with a more modern one. And they’re probably right. But not just now because I have a limited budget for maintenance this year. Maybe next year I will replace it.

In the meantime, I'm just glad I don't have to manually open and close the damn thing twice every time I leave the house.

Hi,

That figures. They want to sell new systems not replace cheap parts.
Congrats on fixing it. Hope it lasts a long time now and dont forget that lanyard it sounds like it is more important now if the thing breaks again it may be worse damage.

 

Hi,

That figures. They want to sell new systems not replace cheap parts.
Congrats on fixing it. Hope it lasts a long time now and dont forget that lanyard it sounds like it is more important now if the thing breaks again it may be worse damage.

Or the new crystal may break in another 20+ years if he keeps handling it with the same level of care used in the past 20-years.

 

Or the new crystal may break in another 20+ years if he keeps handling it with the same level of care used in the past 20-years.

That's why you always buy two of!

 

Replacing a remote often requires replacing the receiver as well

My GDO can be programmed to accept up to - I think - 8 or 10 different remotes. Older remotes like my former Craftsman opener come with a set of switches you can select - but you have to have the right remote type and set it to the same switch setting.

Shock can damage a crystal. The chip can break in half. It won't produce a wave of any sort. OR the chip can break a piece off of one side but still oscillate. Only, the oscillation won't be the former factory set value.

Something else that can break when dropped is the little capacitors; depending on what type they are. Ceramic caps can be damaged simply by probing them if you use too much force. Uneven heating of solder can sometimes play havoc with it. But since you're saying it was working before the drop and not after - yeah, something broke. It could even be the tiny spider wires inside one of the microchips have broken.

If you haven't scoped it yet - that's the next order of business. If it's oscillating at the wrong frequency then the chip may be damaged. If it's not oscillating at all - and this I also don't know for sure - the chip may be damaged but still functional on some level.

 

the wires connecting the crystal (inside) could break too

 

Or the new crystal may break in another 20+ years if he keeps handling it with the same level of care used in the past 20-years.

Yes but we dont have to worry about that scenario too much now do we
The bigger problem is if it breaks again it could be a chip or something that nobody makes anymore, which would trash the whole system i guess.
On the other hand, if he can get a schematic or theory of operation i would guess that a microcontroller circuit could do the entire job of the remote.
Some remotes are easier to build from scratch i built one for proof of concept that did all my stuff like TV, VCR, Cable box, etc., But they were easier because they were just infrared. I would guess the protocol is similar though, just modulating RF instead of an LED. It may be more complex though to keep it from false triggering.

Oh that reminds me, the way i was able to interface with all of those devices was because i had working remotes for all of the devices. It would be the same for his remote except we would be looking for a signal that is high frequency with some kind of modulation. That should be not too hard to duplicate either from scratch. Need a decent scope and some patience. If he can log all the waveforms from start to finish i can recommend a circuit and program code. I bet it is just one code to open and one to close. That would be simple relative to the TV remotes that have to generate 100 codes or more and you have to have a button or button combination for all of them.

 

That's why you always buy two of!

And, if I was the one to buy two, I would ask myself, 19-years from now, "what the hell was this for?" Then toss it in the trash. And a year later,,,, I'd remember.

 

I did look for a replacement before embarking on this little venture. But the system is obsolete, and I couldn't find it anywhere. Not even with specialized businesses who told me that the best thing to do would be to replace the entire system with a more modern one. And they’re probably right. But not just now because I have a limited budget for maintenance this year. Maybe next year I will replace it.

In the meantime, I'm just glad I don't have to manually open and close the damn thing twice every time I leave the house.

Hi there,

Do you have a decent scope, especially a digital one with memory?
If so, you can look at the output of the remote with a small coil and whatever and find out what kind of codes it is generating. With a modern microcontroller and a little work you can build an entirely new remote from scratch.
You do have to log the output of the remote though in order to find out the carrier frequency and pulse code type. It would be pretty easy to duplicate.

 

Hi there,

Do you have a decent scope, especially a digital one with memory?
If so, you can look at the output of the remote with a small coil and whatever and find out what kind of codes it is generating. With a modern microcontroller and a little work you can build an entirely new remote from scratch.
You do have to log the output of the remote though in order to find out the carrier frequency and pulse code type. It would be pretty easy to duplicate.

Why? It's fixed.

 

Given that the remote is fixed and working, I suggest adding some of those corner bumpers that are made to protect small kids from sharp furniture. Just glue them to each corner of the remote and then when it is dropped the shock will be much less and not do damage. A cheap fix to avoid future pain.

 

Given that the remote is fixed and working, I suggest adding some of those corner bumpers that are made to protect small kids from sharp furniture. Just glue them to each corner of the remote and then when it is dropped the shock will be much less and not do damage. A cheap fix to avoid future pain.

Or cut open a pillow and stick it inside Attach a small parachute?
Too bad this wasnt a cell phone they make pretty good cases for phones these days.

 

I would not be so very difficult to put together a leather case for the remote. Or find one for a n older generation cell phone. And I am being rather serious, which suggesting a parachute is not. Just a bit of cushion will reduce the "G" load of any impact a fair amount.

 

I would not be so very difficult to put together a leather case for the remote. Or find one for a n older generation cell phone. And I am being rather serious, which suggesting a parachute is not. Just a bit of cushion will reduce the "G" load of any impact a fair amount.

Hi,

Yeah of course i was kidding about the pillow and parachute.
Now that you mention it, they make really nice belt side packs for phones that vary in size from very thin (just for phone alone) or a lot bigger so you can put other stuff in it too. The right size he could have a belt pack to hold the remote depending on the size of it.
I had a couple in the past, the first two were a bit too big so i went to a thinner one so it doesnt stick out so much. They are great for this.\

Oh BTW, when i suggested monitoring the remote control with an oscilloscope, that could be the only thing that has to be done in order to absolutely guarantee that he can use the system for life (barring problems with the mechanism itself). There is no need to build a new remote today or tomorrow, he can wait until the remote fails catastrophically and then build a new one. The important thing would be to gather the data NOW before the remote fails again or it could be the very last time that system could be used. Just have to keep the monitoring data in a safe place.

 

The last car I had it could not happen, it had scan-programmable button above the mirror that could be set to match the opening code.
So no need for the FOB.

 

The last car I had it could not happen, it had scan-programmable button above the mirror that could be set to match the opening code.
So no need for the FOB.

Hi there,

What are you saying it is that could not happen? I didnt quite understand what you are saying.

 

I didnt quite understand what you are saying.

The car had the feature of built in programmable door opener that mimicked the FOB.
There was nothing to drop/damage.
.